Global Update: Towering Tel Aviv

News from luxury home markets around the world

Real estate agents have begun employing drones as a cost-efficient way to capture aerial views of luxury property in Southern California. [The Press-Enterprise]

There has been a 20% increase in the number of luxury homes (valued above $1.2 million) sold in the past year ending in May compared with the previous year over the same period. Luxury homes sat on the market on average 42 days longer over this time period compared to the previous year. [Sonoma Index-Tribune]

And what are the top property priorities for wealthy students looking to live off-campus in Manhattan? “[P]roximity to their school and a large communal living space.” [Real Estate Weekly]

A federal judge has granted a preliminary injunction restricting the limits placed on helicopter travel in the Hamptons, allowing the current volume of air traffic, and our national debate on how much chopper travel is too much, to continue. [The New York Times]

Berlin-based Metropole Marketing has plans to turn Prora, a never-occupied resort community for Nazi officers and their families on the German island of Rugen, into a series of beachfront luxury apartments. [RT]

A three-car parking space in London’s Knightsbridge area featuring “24-hour security, valet service and an exceptional chauffeur lounge” is on the market for £390,000 (US$615,162). [The Independent]

Middle East:

UAE businessman Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor does not put much stock in the S&P report predicting a 10%-20% price fall in Dubai’s residential market, saying the findings are based on a series of “flawed guesstimates.” [Arabian Business]

The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand finds that luxury home sales are on the rise in the island nation. Sixty-nine properties of NZ$1 million-plus (US$684,505) sold between January and May of this year, a 21% jump from the same period in 2014 and a 213% from the same period in 2013. [Bay of Plenty Times]

A new mansion in the Melbourne suburb of Glen Waverley sold for A$3.625 million (US$2,781,371) at auction on Saturday making it the latest in a string of multimillion dollar auction sales for the neighborhood. [Herald Sun]

Developer James Tee says that the flow of Chinese capital into the Sydney and Melbourne property markets will continue unabated until Australia overhauls its the anti-money laundering legislation. [Sydney Morning Herald]